ON THE GROUND IN HAITI---MEHARRY DOCTOR PROVIDES ESSENTIAL
MEDICAL CARE
On January 28, Dr. Rahn Kennedy Bailey, M.D., FAPA, traveled to Haiti with the National Medical Association to provide medical care for the basic needs of Haitian residents. He will provide periodic updates of his experiences on the ground in Haiti.
Bailey is a dual board certified forensic psychiatrist who is currently the Chair and Executive Director of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Meharry Medical College.
A graduate of Morehouse College, Bailey received his medical degree from the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, Texas. He is a national forensic expert, who has testified in both civil and criminal cases. In 2009, Bailey was elected as the Speaker of the National Medical Association’s House of Delegates. Bailey has been featured live on MSNBC, Cable News Network (CNN), and various media outlets for his expertise in the field of mental health.
Helping Along the Way: A Meharry doctor’s account:
Most of the injuries here are fractures. There is a desperate need for surgeons. We are fixing and setting bones without pain medication, but ultimately they need surgeons , orthopedic surgeons, for injuries to heal right.
There is tremendous misery . . . the children are crying out in pain. We are treating a lot of children; mostly children, but some adults. We are seeing mostly adult women: aunties, grandmothers, mothers; not a lot of men, no old people. We landed in Santo Domingo and are working our way to Port-Au-Prince, but we stop at makeshift hospitals along the way because we have supplies and people are in such desperate need.
We’ve helped more than 200 people so far. There are 12 of us. We are in three vans, and we have a guide from Santo Domingo. We should get to Port Au Prince tonight (January 29, 2010) and we will be out of supplies by tomorrow. We didn’t pack clothes, we stuffed our luggage with beta dine, antiseptic, bandages -- basic medical supplies. Some of the places where we stopped there are nurses, but they need direction on what to do next to help. I haven’t seen any married couples, or whole families, I’ve seen kids with aunts or uncles or older siblings. I treated one 8-year-old boy with four fractures: shoulder, both legs and his arm. I treated another little boy, the only survivor in his family. He lost all three of his siblings and parents. He was the youngest child in the family. What does he have to look forward to? What do you do when you realize that you’ve lost everyone? There is tremendous misery, here.
There are no antibiotics, no anesthesia . . . the makeshift hospitals are like little houses. Were traveling just inside the border of Haiti making our way to Port-Au-Prince. Since we are a mission trip with supplies, we have to stop along the way; everyone needs help.
We buy water hundreds of bottles at a time, and when we stop we give it all away. We are making an impact: setting legs, touching one life at a time; but we need thousands and thousands of doctors. From the looks of it, the death toll is underestimated - you can tell, there is death all around.
I want people back home to know this is real. I’ve been a doctor for 20 years and you won’t know what will shock you until you see it . Haiti was already destitute to begin with, you can tell as you drive through; and now, you wonder, how can this get better?
And then you see the amazing resilience of the human spirit , especially among the children who despite their broken bones and pain-riddled bodies find ways to play and laugh between their tears.
This will take time and what’s needed most -- money, supplies, surgeons and sustainable post trauma care.
Dr. Bailey delivered this account of his experience in Haiti via telephone at 1 p.m. on Friday, January 29, 2010.
ARRIVAL
OUR EFFORT
We worked to bring supplies to an orphanage (Grace Catholic Church/Orphanage). There were 200 hundred girls on site. They have no running water, no plumbing, only had at three day supply of food. There hopes were diming as several discussions led to questions to me (especially after they found out I was a psychiatrist) of "how could things get better." Those were difficult to swallow. I attempted to arrange an opportunity for groups to talk, to address there respective concerns, etc. It was rudimentary at best...but I hope and believe, it was beneficial.
The risk of danger was still present. Not so much from a risk of gun violence (we had security), but from the overwhelming desire for, demand for, the basics of food and clean water. We were informed that there had been a near rush on the church gates. There were reportedly 18,000 people living inside the preliminary barrier gate, but on the ground. People bathe openly outside, kids are actively naked, and the makeshift tents in which they live are sparsely stable.
CONDITIONS
The air was remarkably difficult to breathe. The open sewage, ever present garbage, limited personal hygiene, and direct/close proximity of so many people was challenging to all. This led to some conflict. There was minor confrontation noted. Overall, I came away impressed with the degree of patience that the Haitian people showed during this most incredible ordeal. We were constantly cleaning our hands with gel, bathed in closets with wipes essentially, and brushed our teeth with bottled water. Precautions to prevent illness to the workers was very high.
MEHARRY
The Meharry donations were very well received. We gave food, bottled water, cleaning solutions (betadine, alcohol, etc.), bandages, personal hygiene items (feminine), antibiotics, etc. We also donated a tent. The girls all sleep outside on the ground, as the fear of another earthquake is palpable. There is so much that we could give. It would all be needed, and very well received.
PSYCHIATRY
Psychiatrically, I am of the belief that we are witnessing the development of a new terminology in medicine. We have rarely before described such a circumstance. In Haiti, such a large number of persons meet the diagnostic criteria for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Pre-earthquake. This clearly catastrophic stressor, in my opinion, has created a new paradigm in disaster relief/recovery. We need to better understand to full impact of this type psychological assault on a person's defense mechanisms. It stands to reason, that any person who has been so impacted has less emotional reserves available to be able to address the primary day to day struggles which they are exposed to. To then have to find additional strength to deal with this new seemingly overwhelming natural event, is more than humans are typically geared to handle.
HAITIAN PEOPLE
We are learning a great deal about people now. These circumstances have brought some of the best love, compassion, and deference to one's fellow man that I have ever seen. There are persons giving the last of available food or water for themselves to the weaker/smaller ones in their group. There are grown men still working to locate others who have been buried (some still alive-as you certainly have seen on television). Further, I have seen many Haitians working diligently to assist the relief workers in our efforts to bring basic needs to their family members, loved ones, and friends.
RELIEF WORKERS
I have also learned a great deal about relief workers. I am with a group from New Jersey/NYC. There are three physicians (one from NJ, one from the DR, and myself), and one nurse practitioner in our group to provide direct clinical services. In addition, there are three ministers from the Bethel Gospel Assembly Non-denominational Church. This coordination with the Arise and Walk Foundation nonprofit relief agency aims to return weekly for at least six months to provide care.
NATIONAL MEDICAL ASSOCIATION
These groups are attempting to partner with others for ongoing support. The National Medical Association has joined the effort. There will be further efforts to grow the relationships into a fruitful, effective, productive, and helpful process for the Haitian people.
As always, I want to thank my president Wayne Riley for his support in this most important endeavor.
Haiti 2010: Needs and perspectives
I am now safely back home in the USA, in my new adopted hometown of Nashville; at my job working for Meharry Medical College.
Today my focus is on the children of Haiti. I pray for their safety. I pray for their security. I pray for their health. Last week, I witnessed the worse exposure to unclean living conditions I had ever seen. The lack of running water, need for proper basic sanitation/plumbing, and the exposure to such adult themes were all overwhelming to me. I saw people, adults and children, actively bathing in the open streets.
Regularly, grown women must expose themselves, their personal/private areas, to the public view. This reality, although commonplace, must at some level be at least embarrassing, if not truly humiliating. There must be provisions made to bring some signature decency to the lives of these people, especially the women.
In addition, the relative risk of violence was palpable. During our trip from the Dominican Republic (we flew there on Thursday, January 28th, no commercial flights were yet being allowed directly into the port of Prince Airport), we were reminded more than once to hire proper security. Because of this concern, we waited at the Dominican Republic/Haitian border for several hours waiting for official Haitian police officers to provide the recommended security escort. I was quite surprised when they arrived, four men with semi-automatic weapons. It was at that moment that I really realized the true level of risk/danger apparent in this endeavor.
The violence was already a daily reality for the children of Haiti, especially the girls/young women. We were made aware of the increase in sexual assaults. The prison was reportedly opened after the earthquake. There was no way to keep tabs on even the worse previous offenders. During our stay, this anxiety was real. There was one occasion when the one woman in our group found herself temporarily apart from the main group. There was active apprehension, bordering on fear, which developed until she was located. Those type occurrences although uncommon, were enough to instill a general sense of heightened vigilance which permeated our group throughout the trip.
